


Talk With Toby, A

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-01-15
Updated: 2004-01-15
Packaged: 2019-05-15 19:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14796299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of theWest Wing Fanfiction Central, a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in theannouncement post.





	Talk With Toby, A

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**A Talk with Toby**

**by:** Dee 

**Category/Pairing:** Josh/Donna  
**Rating: MATURE**  
 **Disclaimer(s):** Not mine. Not really his anymore either.  
**Spoiler:** Spoilers all the way through current.  


**Notes:** Follows: "The Dinner Date" 

I heard a tapping at the door and for a second thought my bird friend was back. Or bird enemy depending on how you looked at it. I was about to issue a very forceful stop it when it occurred to me that the knocking was coming from the door. 

"Hi." 

Toby stood in the doorway. "Is Josh around?" 

"No, he had to go to the Hill." 

"Oh. Okay." 

I waited a beat as I watched him sway a bit in the open door way. "Did you want to talk to me about something, Toby?" 

His decision made, he stepped in the office and closed the door. I closed the folder in front of me. 

"I was going to apologize to Josh." 

"He ought to get a kick out of that." 

"I asked him..." 

"I know," I said. "He told me in the car." 

"And Andi told me that she..." 

"Yeah." 

"We're... you know." 

The word was sorry, but knowing Josh, he was going to actually make Toby say it and twice in one day would be enough to send him into a tailspin. 

"I know," I gave in indulgently. 

"So you're really not?" 

I blinked a few times as I deciphered his half sentence. "You know Toby that's not how an apology is supposed to work. You're not supposed to apologize then re-accuse..." 

"I'm not accusing," he said quickly. 

This was interesting. "Really?" 

"Really." 

"So if for some reason, say in the future, not that I'm saying anything would happen, this is purely hypothetical... but if it did?" 

"I wouldn't be crazy about it," he said in his typically brutally honest way. Damn it. "Technically, there's nothing wrong with you and Josh..." 

"I didn't use names. No names. Hypothetically." 

He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. "Hypothetically, there is nothing technically wrong with two unattached co-workers engaging in an affair." 

I nodded in agreement. 

"But then again there was nothing technically wrong about Sam being friend's with a prostitute." 

"Am I the prostitute in this scenario?" 

"I didn't use names. It was hypothetical." 

I nodded and let my hair fall in front of my face so he couldn't see my expression. This was basically the response I was expecting. Not the prostitute thing - that was out of left field - but the not crazy about it part. 

"Look, Donna it just sends a ... bad vibe. You're young and attractive and he's your boss. It makes you look like a twinkie and Josh look like a slime." 

"I get it," I told him. I wasn't stupid. I knew exactly the message it sent. Of course I knew it or I wouldn't have spent almost five years fighting an attraction and feelings that were never going to go away. But I thought by now that people knew us. The press knew us. Congressmen, Senators, their staffs knew us. Everyone knew I wasn't a twinkie and Josh wasn't a slime. 

"I didn't mean to imply..." 

"I get it Toby. I told you the truth before. Nothing has happened." 

And I didn't know if it would. Amy stopped by the office earlier. Something about an issue that was concerning the First Lady. She was funny and flirty, obviously trying to be friends with him - not so much me anymore - and I thought when I saw her that she could date Josh. She was allowed. Nobody had any problems with that. Toby had even given his permission. 

Josh could date Amy and I was a prostitute. 

"Josh should be back in about an hour if you want to..." 

"Okay." He turned away and was about to open the door when he turned back around. "Did you have fun at... my house the other night? Aside from the grilling and accusations that is?" 

I laughed softly. It was hard to stay mad at Toby. And the truth was he hadn't said anything I didn't already know. "Yes, sure. It was fun." I wouldn't be doing it again, but it was fun. 

"You would say that I seemed... social?" 

"Very." Where was this going? 

"Because Andi thinks that sometimes I'm not." 

Sometimes he wasn't. But now it was starting to make sense. "You had Josh and me over to prove that you could be social in front of Andi." 

His gaze narrowed and then he nodded once. 

"Is this like you eating the salads again?" 

"It is." 

"Did it work?" 

"I don't know," he sighed. Then he sat down. He actually sat down. I had an urge to beep C.J. She was the one who handled depressed Toby. Me, not so well. "She thinks I'm sad." 

"Ouch." 

"That's cruel, right. I thought it was cruel, but then ... I'm sad so I thought it was honest." 

"Toby can I say something?" 

"I'm sitting here." 

"It doesn't make a difference if you're sad or not." 

"It does to her." 

I shook my head and tried to think about a way to say this. "What I meant is she may not like that you're sad. She may not like that you don't socialize often. But that would mean nothing if she was in love with you. If she doesn't love you, then you trying to socialize or eat salads or not be sad... wouldn't matter either." 

He looked at me for a time. 

"Love is what it is. You can spend your whole life dating brunettes because that's what you're attracted to and then fall in love with a blond. Whether or not the blond dyes her hair seems kind of trivial. Doesn't it?" 

"It does and you're right." He stood up then. "Your memo the other day was good." 

Ah. A compliment for throwing a major monkey wrench into my love life. 

"You wrote the memo on the water conservation bill too." 

I glanced away not sure how to answer that. Then I realized it was silly to lie about it. "I did." 

"Josh doesn't know that." 

"I told him a new intern did it. I didn't want him to be... I needed an unbiased opinion." 

"What did he say?" 

I smiled at the memory. "He told whoever wrote it was really good and really smart and that I should flirt with him as an incentive to stay." 

"And this is the man that you've chosen..." I looked at him. "Never mind." 

I opened the folder in front of me on the desk and went back to reading. 

"It's too late you know," Toby said at the door. "It doesn't really matter if anything has happened between you and Josh or not. It's already happened in your heart." 

"Hearts can be broken, Toby." I said without glancing up. "You can crack them open and empty them of everything. If you have to." 

I wasn't ready to admit that I had to. Not yet. 

"Tell Josh I was looking for him." 

"I will." 

The door closed and I glanced back down at the page that I had only been pretending to read. The words became blurry and for a second it confused me. Then I realized that I was crying. 

The End.

See the Sequel: "Introducing the Intern" 


End file.
